


Dance With A Twist

by lightofdaye



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, Fluff, Romance, Yule Ball (Harry Potter)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-29
Updated: 2020-12-29
Packaged: 2021-03-10 22:13:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 834
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28214511
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lightofdaye/pseuds/lightofdaye
Summary: Harry ponders why Parvati went to the Yule Ball with him and comes to a realisation.
Relationships: Parvati Patil/Harry Potter
Comments: 6
Kudos: 33
Collections: (a very mini) Mini Fest 2020





	Dance With A Twist

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to T For a lightning quick Beta Read and to the mods for running the fest again.

The Yule Ball had seemed like a bad idea from the start, Harry Potter thought. In practise, it was turning out to be a nightmare. 

He stared morosely as Cedric and Cho danced together. As he watched, Parvati and the boy from Beauxbatons moved smoothly across the hall and into Harry’s field of vision. As she did so, their eyes met over the boy’s shoulder and Harry felt a spark of connection. The look she was giving was not quite resentful or angry, nor smug and happy to have found an undoubtedly better partner than him for the dance. Instead, Harry rather thought there was a sad and disappointed edge to the look, and that left him entirely baffled.

Harry had asked Parvati Patil as a last resort, he could admit. She surely must have realised that, given that he’d asked her so late, and the constant rumour mill that was Hogwarts had probably made sure everyone had heard about his first abortive attempt to invite Cho Chang to the ball. It wasn’t like Parvati could complain, she had got to be the centre of attention: partnered up with a Triwizard champion opening the ball. She couldn’t have expected more than that.

Could she?

Dean’s voice from earlier in the evening came drifting back into Harry’s head unbidden: _I still can’t work out how you two got the best-looking girls in the year._ Dean wasn’t wrong, and yet that made it doubly odd that Parvati had been without a date for the ball when Harry had asked. Had no one asked her? Perhaps they had all thought she’d already be taken, or perhaps… an absurd idea popped into Harry’s head: she’d been turning people down and hoping someone specific would ask her.

But that was ridiculous, Harry thought. And yet as the dance continued, he felt his gaze drawn to Parvati more and more. Her long dark hair was streaked with gold wire, shining brightly, and her pink robes set off her looks well. His stomach lurched as he felt… well, he didn’t know what he felt. Pity and guilt but there was an undertone… an echo of the same emotions he’d felt looking at Cho: desire and jealousy of the Beauxbatons boy. 

Well, it didn’t actually matter if she’d wanted him to ask her or not. It was childish to be sitting there staring at someone involved with something else when you were supposed to be partnering someone else. Of course, now that he’d annoyed her, Parvati might not want to dance anyway but suddenly Harry resolved to at least try.

When the music ended, Harry quickly rose to his feet, nodded to an approaching Hermione in passing and surged past her and onwards to Parvati and the Beauxbatons boy.

“Thank you for taking caring of her,” he said to the boy, inserting himself into their conversation. “But I’ll take the next dance if you don’t mind.”

From the look of things, the boy _did_ mind, nor did Parvati immediately make her decision known. Internally, Harry quailed. Perhaps this had not been a good idea, but he maintained such a stony countenance that the boy, though in fact, he was 17 and of age, broke first and departed.

Harry turned to Parvati, who regarded him coolly.

“Wannadanceme?” Harry garbled and flushed pink. “I mean, do you want to dance with me?”

“I think I’d rather have a drink,” Parvati said, coolly. She turned away from him towards the tables covered in refreshments.

Harry’s jaw locked for a moment then he forced himself to speak up again.

“Can we start this over, please?”

Parvati half-turned back to him, an elegant eyebrow raised.

“I owe you an apology and a thank you,” Harry said.

“Oh?”

“I asked you as a last resort,” Harry said. “That wasn’t fair. I’m sorry. I need to thank you for saying yes. Because if you hadn’t, I’ve been in a lurch without a partner. I took that for granted. I don’t mean to keep doing that if... if you’ll have me.”

Parvati regarded him for a long time, her eyes smouldering. Then, at last, when Harry was on the verge of fleeing in embarrassment, quite sure he’d made a complete fool of himself, she said:

“One more dance can’t hurt, I guess.”

The next dance was a slow one. Parvati held him close, and this time he was suddenly aware of everything: the warmth of her touch, the scent of her perfume he hadn’t even noticed before and just how relaxing and peaceful it was to gently move along in time with her motions.

One more dance turned into two and then drinks ensconced in a remote corner and talking, so that they barely noticed the row Ron and Hermione were having across the room, or Cedric and Cho embracing tightly in another corner.

As Parvati lead him back onto the dance floor again, Harry had to admit the Yule Ball had not been such a bad idea after all….


End file.
